Feed shipments blocked by US officials over BSE, salmonella concerns

A batch of Canadian cattle feed was refused entry​ at the end of March after inspectors reported evidence it contained animal protein, said the FDA. The feed was manufactured by Sure Crop Feeds.  

“The March 2016 action represents a new violation based on positive BSE lab findings for cattle feed mixed ration under entry #UPS-5758942-6 and analyzed under FDA sample #947867​,” an FDA spokesperson told FeedNavigator. “This product was identified as being processed at the Sure Crop Feeds, Grindrod, Canada, facility.”​

Rejection and remediation ​

The feed was rejected on a violation code relating to concerns that it had been manufactured in unsanitary conditions and the product was tested for animal protein, said the agency.

The US does not allow animal feed that contains animal proteins coming from areas or countries at risk of BSE, said the FDA.

“BSE is the bovine form of a group of uniformly fatal neurological diseases known as TSEs (Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies​),” the agency said. “BSE appears to be spread in part through feeding of infected material to cattle. At this time, the causative agent is unknown and there is no test for the presence of the agent in animal derived products.”​

The agency conducts random testing of imports for animal proteins and generates the Import Alert #71-02 list of companies that have had shipments containing those ingredients, it said.   

This is not the first time that the Canadian company has had imports stopped by the FDA, the agency said. “A previous shipment of rolled barley manufactured by Sure Crop Feeds imported under entry UPS-5182896-4 was also found to contain suspect blood material in July 2014, and this product was refused and re-exported,”​ the spokesperson added.

The company has been added to the Import Alert 71-02 list for this second violation, she said. Other facilities from Unifeed Limited and Sure Crop Feeds had been on the alert list from 2009, but those determinations did not have bearing on this facility.

“The addition of the Grindrod, Canada, facility was based on FDA analyses,”​ she said. However, there is a process in place for firms to be removed from the alert list.

A third-party lab may be used to test future shipments and have them verified for import, said the spokesperson. “Sufficient entries demonstrating compliance as witnessed by third party laboratory results may be utilized as part of a petition for removal according to guidance found in the IA and in the in the regulatory procedures manual,”​ she added.  

Other imports refused​

The Canadian company was the only group to have an import refusal for non-medicated feed or feed ingredients in March. In April, two shipments from the same company in Germany were rejected.

The feed ingredients from Lanxess Deutschlan in Krefeld were refused on April 15 for adulteration and misbranding, said the FDA.

“The article appears to consist in whole or in part of a filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or be otherwise unfit for food,”​ the agency said of the adulteration. The items were found to be misbranded because the label was either hard to read or not all of the information needed was included in English, it added.

Earlier this year, several feed batches from Mexico were turned away.

In January, there were seven shipments of animal feed refused import, said the FDA. All the products were listed as coming from Mexico with Suplementos para... (D.B.A. SUMMMA) planta PIVA named as the manufacturer.

The raw material was refused import because it appeared that they contained salmonella, said the FDA.

In February, another seven animal feed shipments from Mexico were turned away, again all for suspected salmonella, said the agency. Some were listed as being manufactured by Suplementos para... (D.B.A. SUMMMA) planta PIVA and others by Suplementos Para Mascotasmunoz Magana, Sa De Cv.    

Details about these and other import refusals can be found by month here​.